• Question: Where in the world is the best place to have a clear view of the sky?

    Asked by louisehtdd to Amy, Grant, Martin, Shawn, Usman on 13 Mar 2013.
    • Photo: Martin Archer

      Martin Archer answered on 13 Mar 2013:

      Usually where there are the big telescopes – they put them there for a good reason. So places like Chile and Hawaii don’t tend to be cloudy, unlike England 🙁 Of course the best place is from space itself!

    • Photo: Grant Kennedy

      Grant Kennedy answered on 13 Mar 2013:

      On Earth the higher you go the better. If you go out at night and see the stars twinkle, it’s because of the atmosphere (air) that surrounds us. The higher up you go, the less dense the air is and the clearer it is. Anywhere above about 4000m is really good, the clearest skies I’ve ever seen were when I was in Peru! I’m a month or so I’m going to Hawaii, and there the telescopes are at 4200m.

      Most of the telescopes I use are actually satellites orbiting either the Earth or the Sun. The reason is that there’s no air up there to get in the way of the light from the stars, so that’s even better!
      g

    • Photo: Amy Tyndall

      Amy Tyndall answered on 13 Mar 2013:

      Chile is one of the best places on Earth for a clear view – it has the needed height that Grant mentioned, the dry air, the cloudless skies, distance from large towns… The VLT (Very Large Telescope) here is at 2500m, right in the middle of the desert, and hours away from the nearst town – a great site for an observatory!

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